


The 1001th Night

by Carrot_Bunny



Series: MakoHaru Festival 2015 [16]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Splash Free, Arabian AU, M/M, magical au, most possibly incorrect substitution of Malay for Arabic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:47:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrot_Bunny/pseuds/Carrot_Bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Makoto silently cursed himself for being a fool – in the stories about genies, when did they ever have names?" Written for the MakoHaru Festival 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The 1001th Night

“You there! Young man! Come over here!”

Makoto turned his head towards the direction of the voice and saw a shrunken old woman bent over a table under a canopy. He immediately recognized her as a fortuneteller. “What is it, grandmother?”

“Just get over here, I have something to tell you!” The old woman waved a hand at him insistently, beckoning to him.

Makoto crossed the street to stand in front of the old woman’s booth. No sooner had he taken in the array of exotic herbs and amulets of all shapes on the table did the fortuneteller grab his palm and hold it open. She scrutinized the lines on his calloused hand carefully. “Hmm… yes… yes, I knew it! Young man, you will soon find yourself with an unexpected windfall of good luck! I have seen it in your future!”

Makoto raised an eyebrow. He didn’t see how his future could be written on his palm. “Um, thanks, now I have to be going,” he said as he started to turn away, but the old woman held on tightly to his hand.

“Wait! I have told your fortune young man, and knowledge of what is yet to pass comes at a price!” She held out her own wrinkled hand. “That will be two copper pieces.”

Now Makoto was upset. “I’m sorry grandmother, but I didn’t ask you to read my future, so I don’t see why I have to pay for services I did not request. Also, you merely told me something lucky would happen to me unexpectedly – I could’ve predicted such a vague result myself. Now please let go of my hand, I have things to do.” He finally wrenched his wrist away from her grasp and headed back across the street.

“No! Wait! Please – cough cough - ” Makoto turned to see the fortuneteller doubled over in a violent coughing fit, and his resolve immediately weakened. Grabbing the water pouch slung on the side of his camel, he hurriedly returned to the booth. “Here grandmother, drink this,” he said as he uncapped the pouch and held it to the old woman’s mouth.

She drank greedily, water dribbling out of the corners of her mouth in her haste. Finally she put down the water pouch. “Thank you, young man.”

Makoto nodded before pressing a copper piece into her palm. “Here. I know it’s not much, but it might be enough for some basic herbs. Please take care of yourself.” He then crossed the street again, took hold of his camel’s reins and led it down the street through the crowds.

…

Makoto felt the contents of his purse and listened to the clinking of the coins inside. He’d managed to make a small profit today, yet it was not enough if his family was to survive the drought that had befallen the kingdom. He sighed as he thought about the dwindling stores of water at home. Maybe if he decreased his water ration so there would be more for – “Woah!”

He had tripped over something and fallen facefirst onto the desert floor. Spitting sand out of his mouth, he turned to see what the offending object was and saw a handle poking out of the ground. Curious, he pulled on it and a dusty old lamp emerged from the sand. On closer inspection, Makoto noticed the ornate carvings and precious gems set in the lamp’s body. It would look quite beautiful when polished. He wondered who might’ve dropped it in the middle of the desert though. Maybe it had been buried under the ground for hundreds of years, only to be unearthed by a sandstorm. _If I take it home and clean it, it might fetch a good prize on the market._ With that, he dropped the lamp into his sack and went on his way.

Makoto’s house wasn’t too far from the city, yet the glaring hot sun meant he was drenched in sweat by the time he arrived home. After changing out of his clothes and rubbing himself down with a wet rag (nobody dared to take a bath any more in these dire times), he had dinner with his family and returned to his room. Pulling out the lamp from his sack, he began to rub its surface briskly with a piece of cloth.

As he removed the layers of dust and grime from the lamp’s body, it seemed to gleam in the light from his oil lamp. When he was done, it looked like a treasure from some sultan’s palace. “Wow,” he breathed as he ran his fingers gently along the lamp’s sparkling surface.

All of a sudden, it was as if a strong gale blew through his room, throwing him backwards as the lamp flew out of his hands. It landed upright on the floor and he watched in shock as blue plumes of smoke billowed up from its spout. When the smoke cleared, Makoto’s heart almost jumped out of his throat. The upper half of a young man was suspended above the lamp, his torso ending in a blue stream of smoke that trailed out of the lamp’s spout.

“A – a genie?” Makoto rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating, but when he looked again the spirit was still there.

Then it spoke. “Master, what do you wish me to do?”

“Wish you to do? You mean – you’ll grant me wishes and all that?”

“Indeed,” the genie replied. “Just say the word, and it will be done.”

Makoto’s hand was spinning. “Wait, I – I don’t even know your name.”

The genie raised an eyebrow. “You ask for a genie’s name?”

Makoto silently cursed himself for being a fool – in the stories about genies, when did they ever have names? “It’s just – I needed something to call you by - ”

“Haruka. You can call me Haruka.” The genie floated closer to Makoto, who instinctively shuffled backwards from his curious stare.

“You’re certainly not like my previous masters.”

“You – your previous masters?”

“Sorcerers. Magicians. Practitioners of the mystical arts.” Haruka’s blue eyes gave the impression of staring right into Makoto’s soul. “You don’t seem like you know any mystical arts.”

“I – no, I’m just an ordinary human. I mean, if I knew magic of any kind, I would conjure up a never-ending source of water or something - ”

“You wish for water?” Haruka’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the mention of water.

“I – yeah, a source of water that never runs out, that would be - ”

“Understood.” And Haruka disappeared with a soft ‘poof!’, leaving Makoto alone in his room with only the newly cleaned lamp for company.

The young man blinked rapidly in confusion. “I must be dreaming,” he told himself. “I’m probably tired out from today’s work.” With that, he blew out his lamp, crawled into bed and gave over to sleep as it claimed him.

…

“Brother! Brother!” Makoto opened his eyes to see Ran’s and Ren’s excited faces hovering inches above his own. They were both grinning from ear to ear.

“Ran? Ren? What’s going on?”

“There’s an oasis behind our house!” Ran cried gleefully. “A real oasis!”

Makoto wondered if he was still dreaming. “An oasis…”

“Well don’t just stay here, come and have a look!” Ren shouted as he and his twin hustled their older brother out of bed and out the back door.

The back of the house had become an empty space for the camel they owned to roam about in, although now the beast was at the water’s edge drinking from the oasis. No, not just one – _two_ camels.

Makoto once again wondered if this was all just part of a dream. “Um, did our camel sprout a double?”

Ran giggled. “No silly, that’s the handsome guy’s camel.”

“The handsome guy’s camel…” Makoto’s voice trailed off as he noticed the figure floating serenely on the water’s surface. Apparently genies could grow legs when not attached to a lamp, as Haruka noticed the watchers’ presence and stood up in the water, the droplets on his chest glistening in the sun.

Just as he made his way towards them though, Makoto gave a yelp of shock. “Haruka! You’re not wearing pants! Stay there and don’t move!” He dashed into the house and Ran and Ren squealed in laughter, and soon came back with clothing. “Here, put these on,” he told Haruka as he held out the clothes towards him.

Minutes later, Haruka was in the family’s kitchen dressed in Makoto’s old clothes which he’d outgrown a couple of ears before. They still seemed rather loosen on the genie’s slender frame though, and the broad sleeves flapped around whenever he reached for something on the table.

“This is…”

“Ah, that’s _roti_ ,” Ran supplied helpfully. “Haven’t you eaten it before, Haruka?”

“I normally only eat mackerel.”

“Only mackerel? Wow, where do you get all that fish?”  
“I live by the sea, actually.”

“The sea? We’ve never been to the sea before – what’s it like?”

“Now Ran, Ren, don’t keep pestering our guest. Besides, weren’t you supposed to help Uncle Kassim with his goats today?”  
“Oh yeah! See you then, Haruka!” The twins dashed out the front door, leaving their brother to clear whatever was left of breakfast off the table.

“I didn’t know camels were part of creating an oasis,’ he observed casually as he worked.

Haruka shrugged. “I figured I needed a ruse if anyone saw me floating in an oasis for no apparent reason, so I decided to cover as a traveller who wanted to refresh himself and his camel.”

“Then why don’t you just return to the lam instead of soaking yourself in the water?”  
“It’s been too long since I’ve been anywhere near a body of water.”

“Eh? But just now you said you lived by the sea.”

“I did, in a hidden cove. Ever since I was enslaved though, I haven’t been back in all these years.”

“Oh.” Makoto started to feel sorry for Haruka. “If so… is there a way to free a genie?”

“Only if their master wishes to do so. But who would anyway? We’re too valuable,” Haruka said drily.

“I see.” Then there was silence as Haruka chewed on his _roti_. Just as Makoto was about to speak again though, a shout came from outside.

“Brother! Brother!”

“Ren? What’s going on?” Makoto ran out the back door, only to find a crowd gathered behind the house, jostling noisily about to get closer to the oasis. They all fell silent at the sight of Makoto striding out. The only movement then was Ran and Ren running towards their brother.

Makoto crouched down and caught them in his arms. “What happened? Why are all these people here?”

“Well, Uncle Kassim said there was no more water at his house for his goats, so we suggested we water them at the oasis. Then he wanted to come along to see for himself, and on our way we passed Aunt Mariam’s house, and she saw us, and - ”

“Makoto!” Uncle Kassim now emerged from the crowd. “How in the worl did this oasis get here?! He whole kingdom’s been bone-dry for months!”

“Um, well…” Makoto wasn’t about to blurt out that he’d met a genie and had a wish granted, and as he tried to come up with a good reason his eyes fell on the water jug under Uncle Kassim’s arm. “Ah, you’re all here to get water, right?”  
“Well, when Ran and Ren told me an oasis had sprouted behind your house of course I first thought of the water stores in my house. There isn’t any left for my goats, and pretty soon there won’t be any for me too.”

“We’re almost out of water as well at our house. My children complain of thirst all day long,” Aunt Mariam added to murmurs of agreement from the rest of the crowd.

“Then by all means, feel free to take as much water as you need! There’s plenty for everyone here! Just please line up in an orderly fashion, and don’t push each other around.”

Before long a long queue had formed, winding all around Makoto’s house and snaking out to the village road in front. Makoto stayed to make sure there was no unruly behavior, and accepted the villagers’ thanks with a modest nod. By the time the last of them had gotten their water, night had already fallen.

Later, Makoto entered his room after the first bath he’d had in a very long time to find Haruka sprawled on his bed. “Um, Haru-chan, don’t you have your lamp to go back to?”

The genbie raised an eyebrow. “Haru-chan?”

“Oh, I mean, uh… calling you ‘Haruka’ all the time feels pretty strange…”

“I’d rather you stick to that. ‘Haru-chan’ sounds annoying,” Haruka deadpanned.

“Um, okay… then Haruka, don’t you want to go back to your lamp?”

Haruk sat up on the bed. “If my master commands me to do so then I will… but it feels nice to stretch my legs after being trapped in that lamp for so long. Or to be more exact, have legs to stretch.”

“I see… then it’s okay, you take my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“No!” Haruka paused. “I mean, I would not want to give my master any inconvenience, so I’ll take the floor instead.”

“Seems pretty poor though, having to spend your first night out of the lamp on the cold hard ground.” Makoto thought hard. “I know! Why don’t we just share the bed?”

Haruka seemed stunned. “You mean… sleep side by side? But… I’ve never heard of humans doing that…”

“Well, maybe your sorcerers and magicians don’t, but the rest of us do it often enough. I used to sleep with Ran or Ren whenever they had a nightmare, I’m used to it.” Makoto climbed up on the bed next to Haruka and lay down. It wasn’t very spacious, but they could just barely lie next to each other without any part of their bodies sticking out over the edge of the mattress.

There was silence in the room, then Haruka spoke tentatively. “Is this how humans sleep together?”

“Uh, pretty much. That is, on a platonic basis of course, like silings or friends.”

“… Am I your friend?”

Makoto was surprised at the shyness in Haruka’s voice, and found it strangely endearing as well. “Well, I guess our meeting was rather out of the blue… but you did help me a lot by granting my wish, so I guess I do consider you a friend. Also, I don't want to be your master, so just call me Makoto.”

“Ma… koto,” Haruka repeated, trying on the feel of the name on his tongue.

“Yeah.” Makoto let out a huge yawn. “Well, I’m going to sleep first. Good night.” He curled up on his side facing Haruka, and was soon asleep in minutes.

Haruka did not fall asleep immediately though. His blue eyes roved over Makoto’s sleeping face, taking in every detail. He had lived for hundreds of years, yet this was the first time he was in such close proximity to a human, both physically and mutually. _Now this is definitely an unexpected outcome._

He didn’t think he minded one bit though. Smiling faintly at his new master – no, _friend_ , he closed his eyes as well.

**Author's Note:**

> Because the Splash Free! AU was too good to not write. I obviously took some liberties though, but eh, anything goes.


End file.
